(Minghui.org)
Name: Hu HongmeiChinese Name: 胡宏美Gender: FemaleAge: 75City: JinzhaiProvince: AnhuiOccupation: UnknownDate of Death: March 26, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 25, 2022Most Recent Place of Detention: Baiyun Hospital
A 75-year-old woman in Jinzhai County, Anhui Province died on March 26, 2023, merely months after she was released from an eight-month involuntary hospitalization in a psychiatric ward.
Ms. Hu Hongmei did not have any mental disorder and was targeted simply because of her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. It’s common practice for the authorities to send healthy practitioners to psychiatric hospitals and subject them to involuntary drug administration and physical torture.
Ms. Hu’s involuntary commitment took place on February 25, 2022, when the Youdian Township Police Station and the Youdian Township Government seized her from home and took her straight to the psychiatric department of Baiyun Hospital.
They put her in a ward with eight other people, including human rights activists. The management of the hospital was similar to that of a prison. Ms. Hu was never given enough food, and she was forced to take three pills of an unknown drug three times a day, every day. When she refused to take the drugs, the nurses grabbed her neck and slapped her in the face.
Sometimes, five nurses held Ms. Hu while forcing her to take the drugs. Her ribs were almost broken as a result. The nurses also force-fed her, accusing her of eating too slowly. Sometimes they blew air into her stomach through the feeding tube to increase her suffering. While other detainees could go outdoor to have a break, Ms. Hu was never allowed to leave the room. The guards could kick her and tie her up at will. She also had a blood sample taken every month.
After over eight months of detention, the police videotaped Ms. Hu and took her photo. They also ordered her to sign a statement promising never to practice Falun Gong again. As Ms. Hu was never married, her brother was asked to pick her up from the hospital in October 2022 and take her to the Youdian Township Nursing Home, where she was placed on residential surveillance. Back in October 2021, she was held in the same nursing home on residential surveillance after she was arrested by captain Wang Xianduo and officer Chen Hao of the Jinzhai County Domestic Security Office.
The nursing home president Wang Longfei (+86-13865721389) and his staff kept pressuring Ms. Hu to renounce Falun Gong after she was admitted there in October 2022. While still suffering from the complications of involuntary drug administration done at the hospital, she struggled to cope with the relentless pressure and died on March 26, 2023.
Ms. Hu once said that her entire life had been miserable. When she was young, a military doctor practiced a stomach operation on her, even though she was completely healthy. She tried to appeal to the central government, but couldn’t afford the train ticket to Beijing. She hitched a ride on a cargo train and endured unimaginable hardships on her journey to Beijing. She didn’t get the justice she deserved. Decades later, she died as a result of the persecution of Falun Gong.
75-year-old Woman Held in Psychiatric Hospital for Eight Months for Her Faith